Apple Announces International iPad Availability for May 28th

[Optimus Frag]

Just realised that for £116 more than the 64Gb 3G version you can get a new Macbook!!!

Definitely not getting one now! Thats just a stupid price in this financial climate.

 

[manu chao]

Duties on components are uniform, production-side costs.

And if component cost are 50% of the retail price, 50% of the duties are uniform and the same no matter where you sell it to.

In most places, there are waivers for NFR purchases (if you're not importing for retail sale, you pay a lower duty or no duty).

So, if I buy a SSD drive from Samsung directly from Korea, I pay higher duties than if OWC buys the same drive but puts it into a case and then sells it to me?

 

[matticus008]

And if component cost are 50% of the retail price, 50% of the duties are uniform and the same no matter where you sell it to.

No. Component costs, including any taxes paid on the production side, have zero bearing on import costs on final sales to customers in foreign markets.

I'm not sure what you're not getting here. Production-side costs are totally separate. There is zero added tax to sell in the US for US companies. Apple doesn't pay to import its own property into its own country for sale.

That is not so outside the US. Duties, tariffs, and import taxes for international sales are assessed for foreign markets based on their own local laws and any applicable trade agreements. If you buy from a US company from overseas, there is an added cost.

Just forget about what happens behind the scenes during production; it doesn't affect international pricing one cent. Your interaction is with Apple, not its suppliers, and the basis of being assessed a duty is that interaction with Apple, a US company. If you're not in the US, that means a higher transaction cost.

So, if I buy a SSD drive from Samsung directly from Korea, I pay higher duties than if OWC buys the same drive but puts it into a case and then sells it to me?

Well for starters, you can't buy directly from Samsung in Korea. But regardless, if you, in the US, buy from OWC, a US company, you pay no duty on the sale. If you buy the same product from some online shop in Korea, you will pay an import duty, even if the drive actually came from the same factory in Taiwan in both cases.

 

[manu chao]

Well for starters, you can't buy directly from Samsung in Korea. But regardless, if you, in the US, buy from OWC, a US company, you pay no duty on the sale. If you buy the same product from some online shop in Korea, you will pay an import duty, even if the drive actually came from the same factory in Taiwan in both cases.

Which does not answer my question. Does OWC pay an import duty for the SSD drive?
If yes, it does not really matter if I pay the duty or OWC (because OWC will hand it over to me via their final price).

 

[chadley_chad]

£429!!!!! Jobs needs to get a reality check!

I'm sorry but I don't care what anyone says about sales tax's, the weak £ against the $, elections etc ... £429 is just an insult for what is essentially an oversized iPod touch!

I had planned to buy one at £300, hesitated at £329 (but probably would have bought!) ... but £429 ... OMG, sorry, NO CHANCE!

Half of that amount buys a decent netbook, a bit more a a fully fledged laptop ... even a whole windows PC or for a few £'s more or a refurb Apple portable.

Sorry Apple, you're taking the P**s, especially within a recession ... my moneys on a Dell Mini 10 and £200 change in my pocket!!!

 

[jb1280]

I had planned to buy one at £300, hesitated at £329 (but probably would have bought!)

So at that price you had no realistic plan to buy an iPad. Enjoy your Dell.

 

[Liam8]

How much in Canada?

 

[AndrewClarke]

A trip to the US to save 50$...how much is that travel and your time going to cost you? :]

Right, plus the dollar isn't even at parity anyway. Yesterday when Rudy69's comment was posted, he'd be very lucky to get $1.04 as an exchange rate (i.e. if he was a bank, not going to a bank) and it went as high as $1.074 yesterday (volatile day). Taking those two numbers, the iPad really starts at somewhere between $511-528. Given the facts that Apple has to price in risk due to currency fluctuations, and the fact that Canada is a smaller market, I don't think that's an unreasonable price difference at all.

I'm going to generalize here, but most people willing to spend several hours to get in their car and drive across the border to "save" $11-28 probably aren't in the target market for a $550+ device.

Also, regarding someone else's comments about NAFTA, I don't remember the exact rules, but I believe iPads are subject to import duty as they are not made in North America. Because they are made in China, they are subject to import duty. Maybe they're subject to import duty in the US too which would mitigate a price difference. I'm not sure.

- Andrew.

 

[JAT]

It sounds lika a lame excuse after learning how US sales tax works.

I wouldn't say you've learned anything about it except that they are different in different places. Taxes can even be different in a certain zone of one city, esp entertainment hotspots like a "downtown" area.

Special add-on taxes can be passed to pay for certain unusual expenditures, esp those that are less than fully beneficial to the public, like a stadium. Those can also be taxed only in a certain county, city, or even zone, so that they are more associated with purchases related to the stadium and don't affect those not using the stadium. Theoretically.

Many things have different sales tax than everything else: food, hotel rooms, gasoline, etc. You should see the cigarette rates.

What the hell? It's freaking against the law in most places to quote prices without tax.

Here it is generally against the rules to quote a price WITH tax, unless you are a concession seller at a theater or similar.

I don't want to be offensive here, but what's the point of setting a distinct "launch date" for a country as small as Luxembourg? I mean this country is so small you can just walk over to Germany or France from anywhere within Luxembourg and buy your iPad there. Do they really think Luxembourg's customers will wait until June to buy an iPad when they can buy it already just around the corner?

They are selling them as fast as they make them. I can't just walk up and buy one here in the USA, either. They'll come. You probably want the 2nd generation, anyway. I can wait to see what they fix.

 

[Master Chief]

I wouldn't say you've learned anything about it except that they are different in different places. Taxes can even be different in a certain zone of one city, esp entertainment hotspots like a "downtown" area...

Like in Spain for example where the IVA is not applicable in certain areas, where another tax, the IGIP (5%) is applicable; IVA is 16% except all postal codes beginning with 07 (Palmas), 35 (Canarias), 38 (Tenerife), 51 (Ceuta) or 52 (Melilla).

The import duties are also much lower. Time for the Brits to go on a quick nice summer holiday in Spain... and help the Spanish economy, once again!

 

[JAT]

Like in Spain for example where the IVA is not applicable in certain areas, where another tax, the IGIP (5%) is applicable; IVA is 16% except all postal codes beginning with 07 (Palmas), 35 (Canarias), 38 (Tenerife), 51 (Ceuta) or 52 (Melilla).

The import duties are also much lower. Time for the Brits to go on a quick nice summer holiday in Spain... and help the Spanish economy, once again!

Makes it fun for we accountants who pay the bloody things.

 

[manu chao]

No. Component costs, including any taxes paid on the production side, have zero bearing on import costs on final sales to customers in foreign markets.

That assumes that I care about import costs. I care about total costs Apple has to ship one iPad to a customer. And this total cost is probably dominated by costs on the production side.

 

[mkjj]

I had planned to buy one at £300, hesitated at £329 (but probably would have bought!) ... but £429 ... OMG, sorry, NO CHANCE!

So you wanted an iPad for $435, good luck with that!

Enjoy the Dell

 

[c0ff]

In Russia iPad is rumored to appear in June, at ~$1050 USD for 16GB WiFi model...
They kinda consider it a 'premium' device for the rich. Hopefully we have not only premium resellers, but small gray ones as well.

 

[Anuba]

The import duties are also much lower. Time for the Brits to go on a quick nice summer holiday in Spain... and help the Spanish economy, once again!

I'm not sure it would help either country, since both the British and the Spanish economy is down the drain. But, the Scandinavian countries can help, they have the lowest deficits (0.5% compared to 11% in the UK) and they won't get the iPad until September. They also like summer holidays in places like Spain since the Scandinavian summer is short and, well, not much of a summer (it's 5°C here in the middle part of Sweden right now).

 

[magga]

Pre-orders from 10th May - does this mean we can order from midnight tonight or is it more likely we will have to wait until 9am tomorrow morning?

 

[Dae]

International trading for the Ruble compared to the US dollar was 30.41 to the dollar.

the prices for Apple stuff here are generally 40% higher than in the US, and they're based on European prices

 

[sphoenix]

So you wanted an iPad for $435, good luck with that!

+1

The closest the UK will get to getting a lower price is £399 on the 2nd-gen iPad. And even that assumption could be wrong, I mean they're bound to add new features? Some peoples' maths in this topic has been a joy to read!

 

[matticus008]

Which does not answer my question. Does OWC pay an import duty for the SSD drive?

What happens on the production side has zero impact on the retail side. There's really no other way to say it at this point. Your question is useless for whether the final retail transaction has a duty, which is the issue for international pricing.

If yes, it does not really matter if I pay the duty or OWC (because OWC will hand it over to me via their final price).

Of course they pass on added costs; the issue here you're apparently not getting is when there are added costs.

If you're in the US and buy from OWC, there is no added duty. If you're in some other country and buy from them, there are usually added import costs. The cost for OWC to buy from its suppliers is the same in either case, so asking whether OWC paid a duty is immaterial. The transaction that has different costs is selling the product to you, based on whether you're a domestic or international customer.

That added international cost can be expressed in the price from the seller (as Apple does with its international sales) or billed separately for the customer to pay (as many small businesses do).

That assumes that I care about import costs. I care about total costs Apple has to ship one iPad to a customer. And this total cost is probably dominated by costs on the production side.

You do care about import costs, because you made the bizarre claim that there wouldn't be a difference between buying domestically in the US compared to overseas markets. That's what this whole discussion has been about.

If the iPad costs $300 to produce, all in, and it's $200 for overhead and profit, then it sells for $500 shelf price in the US.

To sell in country X, where there's $45 in import duties from the US and costs and $5 in international business costs, the price grows to $550. Production costs are still the same $300, and base overhead is still $200. If they then have a 10% VAT, the shelf price will be $605--thus explaining why the X shelf price is 21% higher than the US shelf price.